The weather is a matter that concerns almost all individuals on practically a daily basis. We use weather information for [i] planning what to wear, [ii] how to travel to work, [iii] whether to proceed with planned activities indoors or outdoors, [iv] whether to engage in outside recreational activates, and [v] whether to expect and prepare for days of particularly severe allergen, smog or ultraviolet exposure.
However, the present methods for obtaining information that could aid with making these plans has, until now, been subject to various constraints, which severely limits the usefulness of the preparation. Most broadcast and Internet-available weather reports provide fairly generalized guidance relating to the weather. In particular, the type of information available is usually related to large periods of time, meteorologically speaking, i.e. time periods can range from as short as 6 hours to as long as 5–7 days. Additionally, the geographical constraints of the reporting are usually confined to large areas, ranging from 25 km2 to as much as continental distances, common for satellite and radar-image-based reporting on national and international broadcast programming. Even for weather forecasting provided by “local” broadcasts, the geography of any given report is usually based on areas of 5 km radius (about 78 km2), and it is not known at resolutions of areas less than 5 km, 3 km or even 1 km in radius.
Another deficiency of known systems for providing weather information is that the systems usually and necessarily address only a limited number of atmospheric conditions, i.e. precipitation, average temperature or temperature range, very general statements regarding cloudiness and wind conditions (sunny, partly cloudy, overcast, cloudy, stormy, light winds with gusting, high winds, etc.) and always with respect to large geographical areas, not necessarily of concern to the individual listener or viewer. One only hears about smog, ultraviolet or pollen conditions in extreme circumstances. Despite the existence of data gathering systems for many atmospheric conditions and at relatively high resolutions or degrees of localization, there is no known system or method for making the power of such data gathering and processing systems available to the general public. Nor has there been a method or system for permitting the general public to extract specifically desired information.
Known systems for on-demand weather forecasting provided by Websites such as the Weather Channel website or the UK's Met Office Website are available for obtaining limited weather-related information based on relatively low-resolution geographical limitations such as zip (postal) code by clicking on a map. However, these systems are similarly limited in the frequency of the updates of the underlying weather information database from which the user receives the answer to his query. Additionally, the type of information available is essentially completely determined by the information provider and does not in any way relate to the specific real-time needs of the user. Moreover, while the information purports to be postal-code localized, it is in fact often simply drawn from a weather map having information regarding a much larger area, i.e. at a fairly low resolution, and which is refreshed once every hour or less frequently. Such weather forecast is extremely probabilistic, due to the extended periods of time which are sought to be covered (e.g. six hours or more).
People today are more time-constrained than ever before and their leisure time is increasingly fragmented and subject to the mercy of the weather. In general, people need help to make the most from the limited time they have and to improve the quality of their decision-making. In fact, the effects of the weather impacts many aspects of human endeavors.
Thus, there is a demonstrated need for a system that is capable of providing weather information for highly localized areas. Furthermore, there is a need for a system which provides answers to highly individualized weather-related queries. Additionally, the information provided by such a system should offer accurate guidance, i.e. over a short time period (less than one hour).
The system should be able to answer individual needs and demands, and offer information that is both accurate and easily and cheaply accessible.
The information offered should cover all various angles of interest—a person suffering from asthma or allergies could find out, for example, the fog status in London or the pollen count in Teaneck, N.J. with the same kind of ease and convenience as finding out rain predictions for the following weekend.